A spotted hyena in Kenya. [Photo/Liaka ac, CC BY-SA.]
A hungry hyena mauled a three-month-old girl while sleeping outside their house in Raya village in Sankuri location, Garissa Sub-County
Baby Zamzam Mahat was sleeping next to her mother outside her grass thatched house when the hyena sneaked into the homestead, snatched her and took before escaping.
The mother who did not immediately notice was only awoken cries from the young baby.
Speaking to the press outside the Garissa mortuary after taking the body for burial, Abdullahi Sheikh, a father to the deceased said that the children were sleeping by their mother’s side at the time of the incident.
“By the time she woke up, the hyena was a few meters away running with the child on its mouth. She chased the animals and was later joined by other family members,” said Abdullahi.
Making matters worse was the fact that it was dark and so they could easily locate the animal which dropped the young one after KMs and run to the nearby bush.
“But by then my child had already died because of the deep cuts that were inflicted on her head by the hyena,” he said.
According to the locals, their efforts to have to have the issue addressed by the local KWS office have so far not succeeded.
“We are living in constant fear of attack from the wildlife animals .most worrying is the fact the hyenas are now interested in attacking human and donkeys. If something is not done urgently then we many more people will lose their lives,” he said.
County Referral Hospital CEO Salah Dagane who confirmed the incident said that the child with a head injury.
The KWS service officials went to view the body and left. They did not talk to the media.
The incident comes barely two weeks after a two-year-old boy was killed by a hyena in Dertu village, Ladgera constituency.
Salah Abdi was sleeping in their house at the time of the incident.
Cases of human-wildlife conflict in the area have been on the rise because of drought and famine.
In the last few years, the county has experienced poor rains that have seen the wildlife leave their inhabitants to look for water and food in the homesteads.
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